7:47 PM, January 27, 2014

Emma Bell pleaded guilty October 3, 2011 to income tax evasion, admitting she received more than half a million dollars from various Kilpatrick fund-raisers and never reported it. / U.S. Department of Justice

Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

Emma Bell, a feisty government witness who helped send former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to prison, could get a break at sentencing this week because of her cooperation, which included colorful testimony about cash kickbacks in a bra.

It was wads of hundreds that she handed over to Kilpatrick at his behest, Bell testified.

“There's only two people in this room, other than God, that know what happened. And that's Mr. Kilpatrick and myself,” Bell told jurors during Kilpatrick’s public corruption trial, which ended with the ex-mayor getting convicted and sentenced to prison for 28 years.

Bell pleaded guilty to tax evasion in 2011, admitting she received more than $500,000 from various Kilpatrick fund-raisers, but never paid taxes on it. She agreed to testify against Kilpatrick in exchange for leniency at sentencing. She faces up to 18 months in prison, although federal prosecutors on Monday recommended a nine-to-12 month sentence because of her “substantial assistance.”

“Ms. Bell is 70 years old and has no criminal record,” the government wrote. “Ms. Bell has shown genuine remorse that does not stem from being caught or from the prospect of going to prison. Rather, it is the government’s view that she is truly ashamed of and sorry for her actions.”

Bell also is “unlikely to re-offend,” the government wrote.

During trial, Bell testified that she gave more than $200,000 in cash kickbacks to Kilpatrick, sometimes pulling wads of money out of her bra and hand-delivering it to him in a mayoral office suite near a barber chair.

Kilpatrick’s lawyer James Thomas attacked Bell’s credibility, citing her history of heavy gambling and tax troubles with the IRS. He also portrayed her as an untruthful witness who was only trying to save herself.

Bell, who made $904,000 as a fundraiser for several Kilpatrick nonprofits and campaign funds, testified that she gave the ex-mayor a cut of the money she earned for him – at his behest. She told jurors how she passed along the money to Kilpatrick: She would write cashier checks to herself, cash them out, and then deliver the money to Kilpatrick in his office, or a few times at the Manoogian Mansion, where the ex-mayor lived. She said she carried the cash – usually in hundreds and fifties – in her purse, bra or pocket, and then hand-delivered the money to the mayor.

Bell told jurors that testifying against Kilpatrick was difficult for her given her history and close ties with his family. Bell said she met Kilpatrick and his parents in the 1970s, when they all attended the same church.

“It’s not easy for me to even be here sir,” Bell testified.

Thomas bought none of it, and asked Bell to concede that there is no proof – not even in her banking records – that Kilpatrick ever took money from her, other than her story.

“That’s correct sir,” Bell said. “And it is true.”

Bell will be sentenced Thursday before U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds.